Why Did Disney World Eliminate the Plus & Deluxe Dining Plans?
Walt Disney World finally announced that the Disney Dining Plan is returning in 2024! Unsurprisingly, there are major changes after over 3 years of the being gone and one (or two) of those are the removal of the Deluxe and Plus tiers of the DDP. This post covers why these options went away, how this impacts character meals, Signature Restaurants, and more.
Let’s start with the actual announcement, which was revealed along with 2024 Walt Disney World vacation packages, which go on sale starting May 31, 2023. Disney Dining Plans will be coming back as an option for those staying at Disney-owned resort hotels who purchase a vacation package with us starting with stays beginning January 9, 2024.
Walt Disney World guests with arrival dates starting on that date in 2024 will be able to choose from two popular option, either the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan or the standard Disney Dining Plan. According to the company, both plans will be a great value for families with young children with access to many spectacular food and beverage offerings across Walt Disney World.
There are a lot of other details that have since been released, and we’ve updated our 2024 Disney Dining Plan Info page with what each tier of the plans includes, along with our frozen-in-time review, recommendations, and more. (Not yet revealed is pricing for the 2024 Disney Dining Plans, and so much about whether the DDP is ‘worth it’ hinges on that.)
Walt Disney World’s official announcement doesn’t offer an explanation as to why the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus are not returning in January 2024. It also does not indicate that they’re being officially retired or eliminated, so I guess technically this headline is wrong.
However, the official Disney Dining Plan pages had been frozen-in-time for over 3 years with a “temporarily unavailable” banner and included details about the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus up until early May 2023. That page removed all references to them within minutes of the announcement that the two lower tiers were coming back.
Past precedent strongly suggests that when something goes from “temporarily unavailable” to vanished from the official website, it’s gone for good. So that’s our operating assumption at this point. It’s not conclusive that more tiers of the Disney Dining Plan won’t be added or restored at some point, but it’s a pretty strong signal there’s no current intention to bring those particular tiers back at any point.
So…why did Walt Disney World eliminate the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus?
If we’re trying to deduce an answer from the official press release and other materials that Walt Disney World has released thus far, the answer is likely simplifying and streamlining the Disney Dining Plan. When describing the options and upsides, the company uses words like “convenience and peace of mind” as well as touting how the Disney Dining Plan makes things easier and saves time for guests so that “you can spend more time with your family soaking in the Disney magic… and less time on meal budgeting while you’re here.”
In fact, adding more flexibility and making vacations easier are the major throughlines of Walt Disney World’s two big announcements (the one at the beginning of this year that brought back free overnight self-parking at resorts, added on-ride photos to the Genie+ service, etc.) and this one that made “5 exciting updates coming in 2024 to improve the guest experience.” Both of these had subheadings about simplifying the guest experience.
The announcements also have indicated that Walt Disney World cares about and continues to listen to guest feedback, and is making changes accordingly. This sentiment is sincere. We’ve mentioned repeatedly–starting long before this year–that guest satisfaction had plummeted and Walt Disney World leadership was incredibly concerned about this, but its hands were tied (last year) to at least some extent. These announcements have been steps to remedy those complaints, and increase key metrics in guest satisfaction.
Obviously, that doesn’t mean “guest satisfaction” is the straightforward explanation for why the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan (DxDDP) and Disney Dining Plan Plus (DDP+) are not returning in 2024. It’s not like fans said, “we’d be hyped if two tiers of the Disney Dining Plan returned, but don’t you dare bring back the DDP+ and DxDDP. Those ones really piss us off!” Rather, the satisfaction-improvement comes from the Disney Dining Plan, generally, returning.
With that, it’s possible that Walt Disney World has additional survey data showing that 4 tiers of the Disney Dining Plan was confusing or overly complicated for guests. That the reduction truly is for the sake of simplicity. Personally, I’m skeptical of this. The only time guests would encounter these distinctions is months in advance during the planning process.
The booking flow for adding a Disney Dining Plan was fairly straightforward, and would only become complicated with optional research–voluntarily going down the rabbit hole of DDP maximization. Most people didn’t do that, and those who did typically did it for an odd sense of enjoyment.
Beyond that, Walt Disney World added the fourth tier–the Disney Dining Plan Plus–less than a few weeks before the parks closed. So survey data up until that point justified its addition, and survey data since (minus those three weeks when things were just a tad chaotic) has been nonexistent. The bottom line is that it’s difficult to explain this as being a guest-driven decision.
We can only speculate as to the real reasons why the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus are not returning to Walt Disney World in 2024. The good (?) news is that we have no shortage of theories, and we’re about to subject you to them. (Sorry, the Brickerthoughts.gov Word doc on my computer is full.)
The biggest and most likely overarching explanation is that Walt Disney World still lacks the dining capacity–or fears that it lacks the capacity–to accommodate all four tiers of the DDP at this time. Although the supply and demand imbalance that persisted at table service restaurants is largely addressed and Walt Disney World is likely on the precipice of a slowdown, this will not impact everything equally all at once.
As a general matter, counter service restaurants do not have the same capacity constraints as their table service counterparts. This makes the two lower tiers of the Disney Dining Plan easier to bring back, one is only quick service (hence the name) and the other is a half-and-half mix of counter and table service dining. In other words, these tiers will put less strain on restaurant capacity than would the two higher tiers.
In particular, demand for character dining experiences has remained surprisingly strong and that’ll likely continue to be the case going forward. It’s entirely possible that there’s a degree of lagging pent-up demand for those meals, as so many of them were missing or modified long after the parks reopened.
These really started returning to normal last year, with that accelerating between October and now. This means that many Walt Disney World regulars likely postponed character dining experiences. Since kids grow up quickly, literally and figuratively, parents are now rushing to make up for lost time and do these dining experiences ASAP.
Character meals like Artist Point, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Topolino’s Terrace, and Chef Mickey’s have always been incredibly popular, and it’s no surprise to see that continue. We’re also seeing unprecedented demand for Akershus, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and several other restaurants that used to be much easier.
Previously, that was with the Disney Dining Plan boosting their popularity–all things being equal, we’d expect to see more people balk at paying the high out of pocket prices for character dining in the absence of the DDP. However, all things are not currently equal for the above-mentioned reasons, and demand is higher for character dining now than it was in early 2020 and prior.
That’s relevant here because the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus were particularly popular with character dining enthusiasts. Even though the DDP+ had only been available for a couple of weeks pre-closure, it was quickly identified by planners as being best for those planning on booking a large number of character meals.
When we say “identified by planners” we’re really talking about ourselves. Our Disney Dining Plan Plus Review was laser-focused on character dining; we were already planning a series of character dining ‘itineraries’ for strategizing the best breakfasts and dinners before the closure.
It’s a similar story with the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan, which made the most sense if you did a character breakfast and a Signature Restaurant for dinner each day. That’s a sometimes odd combo, but is how many planners leveraged the DxDDP to get the most bang for their buck with it. Although not to the same degree, we’ve also noticed less ADR availability at popular Signature Restaurants this year than in years past. (It probably doesn’t help that many of those have not been consistently open or have had reduced hours.)
Character dining experiences and Signature Restaurants can still be booked with the standard Disney Dining Plan, so its reintroduction is going to boost demand even further at both. The obvious difference is that those credits are more limited; bringing back the DDP+ and DxDDP would have an outsized impact on character dining and Signature Restaurants.
Another potential explanation is that getting rid of the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus was like closing a loophole for WDW dining power users. Our commentary to Genie+ Lightning Lane Advance Booking Coming to Walt Disney World focused extensively on perceptions of FastPass+ differing dramatically between casual first-time visitors and diehard Walt Disney World planners. It’s a very similar idea here.
In a nutshell, the DxDDP and DDP+ offered the most money-saving potential if you leveraged savvy strategy and hacked them. Part of the reason we know that DDP detractors are wrong when they say that “no one” saved money with the Disney Dining Plans is because we did.
Almost every character dining experience or Signature Restaurant review on this blog from March 2020 or earlier was “powered by” the DDP+ or DxDDP. We have two different illustrative posts (here and here) about how we saved a ton with the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan. And those are with receipts, as the kids say (although I don’t think they mean it in the literal sense).
The catch is that these hacks only worked if you dined in a very specific way, and it was an unnatural one unless you specifically set out to beat the system. First-time guests who did minimal (at most) research probably would not book Advance Dining Reservations to allow for them to dine in these ways–and they probably wouldn’t want to do so, anyway. The DDP+ and DxDDP were simply not conducive to the natural way most casual guests would dine.
Consequently, it’s likely that a chasm emerged. Power users absolutely loved the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus because they saved a ton of money–more than was possible on the two lowest tiers. Everyone else likely wasted credits and money with them–more than on the two lower tiers.
It’s possible that guest satisfaction scores also reflected this. (Although perhaps not–people love to splurge on luxury and enjoy the perception of all-inclusive options. Most average guests who bought the DxDDP likely did not do so with the intention of saving money. High satisfaction despite losing money would not be the least bit surprising.)
Anyway, not quite the same as FastPass+ but a similar idea. (The most meaningful difference is that the DDP power users likely had a negligible impact on everyone else; dining is not a zero-sum game like queueing.)
Despite all of this, I have to admit that it caught me by surprise that the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan is not returning in 2024. Nothing discussed above is a bombshell revelation. Walt Disney World knew that hardcore planners were hacking the DxDDP. They knew that casual guests were wasting credits. They knew whatever guest satisfaction scores were, too, and how those broke down among demographics.
The Deluxe Disney Dining Plan had been around for over a decade. It was an entirely known quantity and everything discussed above was already priced in. The introduction of the Disney Dining Plan Plus in early 2020 indicates that Walt Disney World wanted more of that, not less. There was a reason for that, too. I don’t know whether it was trying to entice upsells from the standard DDP to something higher when the DxDDP was too big of a leap (that’s my guess) or something else.
The point is that the Disney Dining Plan Plus didn’t happen by accident or mistake. That those two tiers of plans only worked well in a narrow set of circumstances and resulted in overspending in all others was a feature, not a bug.
Similarly, I’m surprised that at least one of the two more expensive tiers of the Disney Dining Plan is not returning in 2024 because of how it could help push the standard Disney Dining Plan. One of the first rules of upselling is to create an expensive product tier that most consumers will not purchase. Not because companies actually expect consumers to buy it, but because it makes the other options more attractive by comparison.
If you have three products that are difficult for the average consumer to distinguish–and the prices are ~$60, $75, and $120–a lot of people are going to naturally gravitate towards the middle tier. It doesn’t cost that much more than the lowest tier…but is a lot cheaper than the highest tier. There’s thus a perception of value, and it also feels like playing it safe. After all, you don’t want to cheap out too much on the budget option–especially during a rite-of-passage vacation!
The old model was savvy on Walt Disney World’s part for this reason. It’s safe to assume that very few people purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan, but it still likely served its purpose in nudging people to buy the standard Disney Dining Plan rather than the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan. That thereby helped achieve higher per guest spending, which might as well be the Sixth Key. With the DxDDP gone, it stands to reason that the reverse will be true–a higher percentage of guests will opt for the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan in 2024.
This is another angle that makes the decision curious. Most of the above concerns about Signature Restaurants and character dining capacity could be addressed with pricing. Keep all 4 tiers (or at least 3 of the 4) but raise the prices on the highest ones. That’s the easiest way to accomplish everything discussed here.
Unless…Walt Disney World does not want to push the standard Disney Dining Plan in 2024? Again, the dining capacity situation is still a bit tenuous, out of pocket spending on table service restaurants has been strong, and Advance Dining Reservation demand has been surprisingly resilient. Given all of that, what if what Walt Disney World really wants is to encourage budget-minded guests to buy the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan, as that will increase their spending from its current levels.
Unprecedented as it might be, that’s one possibility. These are still odd times. The good news is that all of this idle theorizing and speculation can actually be tested. When 2024 prices are released, if the cost of the Quick Service Disney Dining Plan doesn’t increase by much and the price of the standard Disney Dining Plan shoots up, that’ll be a pretty good indication.
I don’t want to get too far out into left field, but another possibility is that the price of the QSDDP stays flat or decreases slightly. (That’ll all but confirm it.) That would be pulling a page out of the 1-day ticket pricing playbook, and isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem at first blush given the removal of a snack credit and other cuts made to counter service restaurants. But I don’t want to get carried away here.
Ultimately, those are possible explanations as to why Walt Disney World is not bringing back the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan and Disney Dining Plan Plus in 2024. Eliminate is a strong word, but it’s the right one to use given that they have been totally removed from DisneyWorld.com instead of being labelled as “temporarily unavailable.”
Nevertheless, for the reasons discussed above, we do not think that the Disney Dining Plan will only consist of two tiers forever. In the near term, there are a lot of variables at play, from concerns about capacity to the desire to maintain per guest spending stats. Those things are not static, and what those numbers look like today could be very different in 2024 or 2025. While we wouldn’t necessarily predict last-minute additions to the DDP tiers for 2024, that wouldn’t be a surprise–nor would more returning during the year or for 2025. The Disney Dining Plan Plus was released two months into 2020, so there’s certainly precedent.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney World bringing back the Disney Dining Plan in 2024? Disappointed that it has taken so long, or isn’t happening in time for your trip this year? Disappointed that the Disney Dining Plan Plus and Deluxe Disney Dining Plan are remaining unavailable? Will the Disney Dining Plan’s reinstatement make you more likely to book a trip? Other thoughts or comments in response to this news? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
One other note — this could actually be a setup to largely use this for “free dining” promotions. It’s the 2 plans that are given as promotion. Removing the snacks makes the plan a bit less generous when Disney gives them away for “free.”
And potentially, they don’t want people upgrading their “free dining” to the higher plans.
There are a few changes worth noting —
The reduction from 2 snacks to 1 snack is huge, and a big loss of buyers of the plan. Loading up on snack credits — whether at F&W, or using them for breakfast — was big for guests. My guess — with rising costs, the elimination of a snack credit allows Disney to price the plan a bit less astronomically. Plus, they may want to encourage more cash spending on snack items, knowing that a family with 2 snack credits per person rarely spent much additional cash on snacks.
Thing this happened a few years ago, but they no longer advertise the Dining Plan as saving money. Only advertise its convenience, pre-paying, etc. Gone are the days when they said, “you could save 40%”
And finally, the reduction of the 2 tiers. I tend to think it’s about keeping the signature and character meals as being primarily cash. When people are using credits, you can’t adjust prices as the year goes on. At a signature restaurant particularly where entree prices may range from $29 to $69, it puts pressure on the high price items. With inflation continuing to be a concern, Disney may want the maximum flexibility to adjust prices as the year proceeds.
Some things worth keeping an eye on — Do the meal entitlements remain the same? Does dessert continue to be included? Do the 3rd party restaurants still overwhelmingly accept the plan?
Almost entirely agree, with one exception–and honestly, one that also came as a surprise to me–they ARE advertising the DDP as “saving up to 20%” on dining. I don’t recall the last time this was mentioned, but I feel like they stopped touting savings in like 2018 or so. Oddly enough, the promotional verbiage focuses on kids, which either is just an odd quirk or possible sign that kids prices are not increasing, aren’t increasing as much…or are (maybe?!) decreasing.
Definitely going to be interesting to watch what they do with prices, what’s included, and which restaurants are excluded. That’s the other half of this story that we don’t yet have, and it’ll definitely help paint a clearer picture of what’s happening.
My wife an I (both in our 60s) go to Disney World every year and have never used the dining plan. For us, we don’t want to pay Disney months in advance for meals we might during our trip. I’ve never understood why someone would do that. We typically pay well under $100 per person per day for food. Heck, I get the kids’ burger at Geyser Point for under $10. I understand that some families may have a budgeting issue and prefer not to get a big bill at the end of a trip. However, instead of giving your money to Disney in advance, just put it in a separate savings account and only use it for what you actually ate during your trip. Or, could put that same money you’d pay Disney on a debit card that you carry with you to the parks. That way, you’re not constantly trying to use all of your credits and eating more than you normally would. Chances are, you’ll have money left over on the card after your trip. The DDP just seems like such a bad deal, financially.
This is generally good advice and for the most part, I agree with you.
However, it’s also worth acknowledging that WDW dining is not one-size-fits-all. If I ordered a kids burger, I’d be hungry again in an hour. (Even with adult portions, I end up eating 3 meals for lunch and dinner if I only do CS.) The DDP is definitely a bad deal for those with smaller appetites, vegetarians, or anyone trying to do WDW as inexpensively as possible.
For avid carnivores with big appetites and wanting to get more bang for their buck–but not necessarily eat as cheaply as possible–the DDP can be a great option. YMMV.
I have always purchased the Deluxe plan in the past, usually with a split stay to get the most bang for our buck. However, I was ECSTATIC when they announced the plus plan right before Covid since I could stop with the signatures and or split stays and just eat like I would normally prefer. I have a TON of food allergies and I just Cannot do quick service. So I only eat table service and I do 2 meals a day. I mean, I try to eat QS, but I can’t mobile order so I have to wait in a long register line, then wait for them to call an allergy chef, then look up all the ingredients in their iPad, then often things are prepackaged/prepped earlier so they can’t modify them, and it basically takes me an hour to get a quick service meal which ends up being terribly plain. Think grilled salt only chicken on a plain bun with no sauce and a mandarin orange as a side. No Thanks. Without the higher tiers, I simply will not purchase a DDP. I know I am not the only one as a lot of families with severe allergies come to Disney to eat because they feel so safe. Aside from the biggest ones – gluten, egg, dairy, nuts, etc, many allergies can only be accommodated with table service dining.
I agree, for food allergies (which is a large subgroup of Disney travelers!), the loss of Deluxe is a real hard hit–counter service is largely frustrating and useless as you mentioned. That said, I was disappointed that Disney wasn’t doing as strongly with allergies in Feb. 2022 and Dec. 2022 as before and hope they will work on massive improvements!
With politics of FL, pricing increases, and weather getting worse more of the year, I would not go to Disney if it weren’t for food allergies handled generally well (and family living in the area is a draw too). That said, I would LOVE to see Disney open a new park in NC or something as floated!
We last went to WDW the end of February of 22. It was the first we HADN’T used the Delux Dining Plan. We budgeted a per day food cost per person that was equal to the latest cost of the DDDP. Most days we were under that cost. Other days well over it. (I’m looking at you California Grill). I’m excited for the DDP to be returning and if the delux option is back in 2025 when my wife and I do our 10 year anniversary, we’ll likely use it. That said, we’ll most likely go out of pocket for a quick trip in 2024. For the record, I get a weird bit of enjoyment planning/scheduling ADRs and how they fit in our trip. I don’t figure that’ll ever change.
I’ve been to Disney World 5 times. Only 1 time did I make ADR’S. Our family discovered that we did not like to be tied down to a specific time at a specific place to eat. An hour or two before our adr time we found ourselves just mulling around waiting for our reservation. Yes, we enjoyed the place we ate at very much. But not on the whole vacation experience. The dinning plan isn’t something our family would enjoy knowing we had to plan out 2 meals a day. Even doing the math for counter service only, picking only the higher cost items, doesn’t make sense for us. We only come out a little ahead. Not worth it. We don’t drink alcohol drinks during the day, and most of the time we prefer the cheaper menu item. I just don’t see it paying off for us. Maybe, I can redo the math with the new terms when they come out.
I’m afraid the reason they aren’t bringing back the higher priced tier plans is because with inflation they are planning to jack up the prices on the DDP. And they realized that there’s a ceiling to what people want to spend so they decided to get rid of the two highest priced tiers. Just look at how expensive meat and seafood has become. This in conjunction with how much room and ticket prices has increased maybe they realized that regular middle class families can’t afford it any more.
I have to say, I used to be a die hard dining plan lover! Then, after Covid and not having it for a while, I actually like not having it better! I got used to budgeting and buying gift cards ahead of time. We noticed we were always bringing snacks home with the plan because we just couldn’t eat that much food everyday. Not sure if I’ll even get it for my next trip when it’s available. I get that it makes it feel “all inclusive”, but doing the math, I save more without it.
Yes! I used a gift card when I was at Disney in April for most of my meals and it was great. the trip prior I had to buy a big gift card because my credit card got hacked and I didn’t want to keep using my debit card until I got home. I ate mostly at Disney places with only one exception at Disney Springs. I want to add $$ to the gift card for my DL trip next year.
Your newsletters are great! I was one who loved the Deluxe Dining Plan, because we went on Christmas week 2 years in a row (2018 and 2019) and stacked 2 credits for signature dining a few nights – using one of the two snacks for quick breakfasts a couple of days. We used all credits and dined in many great restaurants, with just 2 of us, with one sit down breakfast and lunch too. I will probably go with the counter and sit down option but wish 2 snacks would come back as well. Love all the info; planning 2/2024.
It is bad enough with all the other changes they have made since the Pandemic , like the ending of the Free Magical BUS from the Airport, the FREE Fast-Pass system, all the PRICE INCREASES for Everything, ETC. making it hard for almost any Families to go to Disney World !! For MANY, Many YEARLY Visits, we went from New Jersey just for the FREE Dining Offer, OR the Free Dining BOUNCEBACK OFFER ! Especially to use the Daily TWO SNACK Credits at the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival BOOTHS !! And it was also Great to get TWO Alcoholic DRINKS each day.
Are those TWO options now GONE Also ??!!!!
Any chance you see Tables in Wonderland make a come back? That did work well for us but my guess is…NOT.!
I have another theory on why the two higher tier dining plans were not coming back/offered in 2024. The two higher tier dining plans have more focus on table service restaurants. With capacity still being limited at the table service restaurants it makes sense to make the public happy by bringing back the Dining Plan while offering the 2 lower tiers of dining that focus more on counter service restaurants, which will help to alleviate Table Service issues!
Thanks!
That’s absolutely a huge part of it. Although ADR availability has eased up considerably in the last several months, that’s also in the absence of all DDPs. Bringing every tier back at once could be a huge strain, undoing all of the progress made.
Personally, I think we’ll continue to see a continued easing throughout the remainder of this year (with the normal October to December spike), but it’s better to err on the side of caution. One or both of the higher tiers can be introduced later if capacity allows!
Depending on changes to Genie+ pricing, I wonder whether the real choice for guests will be between the dining plan and skip-the-line privileges, rather than which dining plan to choose. Cutting down the number of dining plan options may make more sense if they are going to add a couple of tiered pre-arrival Genie+/ILL options and push people to a middle ground of “cheaper dining, with some LL’s.”
That’s a very interesting angle!
However, it’s also one that would require a level of foresight and internal collaboration that I doubt is actually happening. These decisions are (usually) fairly siloed, so the team making determinations about the DDP and the team making decisions about G+ would be totally separate and independent of one another. Who knows, though, might be different this time.
Ahh. I think your capacity hypothesis seems much more likely.
I’m biased – I already view Genie+ and 2 ILLs per person per day as an upgrade in lieu of a table service meal, and consider it the best deal on property for my ride-centric family. Now that there will be a fixed price for daily dining, I suspect some segment will view these upgrades as trade offs.
“The good (?) news is that we have no shortage of theories, and we’re about to subject you to them. (Sorry, the Brickerthoughts.gov Word doc on my computer is full.)”
Shame on anyone who clicks on “Why Did Disney World Eliminate the Plus & Deluxe Dining Plans?” and doesn’t want to see this!
The only other interesting guess I’d add is that MAYBE, when management eliminated the multiple table service versions of the dining plans, there was a need (or interest) in diverting guests from all table service meals to table service and counter service options. I’m just not sure that has been the case for quite some time. (Ridiculous guesses include that *maybe* third-party restaurants were balking because the more expensive plans ate into the restaurants’ profit margins, or that WDW was confusing itself with all of the plans. By “ridiculous” I don’t mean silly per se, but impossible to prove or disprove.)
I wouldn’t say that’s impossible to prove or disprove. We’ll have a pretty good idea when the FINAL list of restaurants is released, and if there are more exclusions than normal. I think that’ll be really interesting to see!
And you’re right that diverting guests from all table service meals to a mix is not something we saw in the past with the DDP. Part of me also wonders whether they are making decisions based on data/trends from late 2021 through early 2023…that will be inaccurate once 2024 rolls around. It’ll be interesting to see!
I never understood the allure dining plan. It seems like a lot of stress to make sure to get the “full value” out of it, from picking the restaurants to having to always pick the most expensive thing on the menu instead of what I felt like having then and there. Having to go to character breakfasts even once would drive me nuts, let alone every day.
It seems so much easier to just eat where you want and what you want and pay out of pocket knowing you were paying the cost of the food on the menu, and not “losing money” on a pre-paid bundle.
I agree about too much meal planning, especially for things a mundane as snacks, not being fun. We always went with “Tables in Wonderland” or whatever they called it that year. Made dinner reservations ahead of time and the rest was “AlFresco.” Trying to figure out how many of what meal type credit you have left and figuring out how to use them all so you get your money’s worth is too much like work. Vacations, at least the way we do them are supposed to be Spontaneous Fun!
We used the dining plan when the kiddo was younger and into meeting the characters, because the character meals are so ridiculously expensive. Unless you’re doing Cinderella’s Royal Table, the character meals were all one dining credit, so we saved a ton on meals. Now she’s older, not so much. She’s over ten, so she’s charged the adult price even though she eats like a bird and often orders off of the children’s menu. I did a cost comparison two different year and found the DDP plan cost us about $300-350 more than just paying out of pocket. And that $300 was only for two people! We never bought it again and haven’t missed it since Disney reopened after COVID. The only thing we miss is the 180-day ADR window.
I think as with any type of planning, some people hate it and some people enjoy it. As mentioned many times, I hate spreadsheet planning…and yet, I love leveraging the DDP.
Part of that is undoubtedly the small joys of ‘beating the system’ (I also love strategizing for Early Entry and working around G+ for similar reasons). It also helps that I love to eat, and would naturally gravitate towards the most expensive entrees, anyway.
For me at least, the DDP doesn’t “force” me to order anything. It makes it easier for me to not be frugal and disregard sticker prices. As with so much, YMMV. I totally get why a lot of people don’t use it and aren’t fans. The DDP doesn’t work out for a lot of people–but it can work really well for some!
I so agree with you Michael! Plus having to have spreadsheets, getting up at 6 to get the restaurants, ettc. just to “beat the system” is not my idea of vacation. I was actually hoping it never came back because everything got worse after the introduction of dining plans.
It’s easier for larger families to budget for vacation with the dining plan. Also some ppl feel guilty when it comes time to spend all that $ on dining in the moment, but enjoy it if they pay it off over the year ahead of the trip, mentally enjoy the splurge of eating on site more than they would with paying OOP… Even if they don’t actually save money. Some things are more about the feeling it gives you than the practicality of it.
I JUST listened to the WDW Prepschool podcast you were a guest on and your prediction was right about dining! That it will be released with 2024 packages. So curious to see the pricing when it’s released. Love how you analyze possible motives by Disney on why they do what they do. I’d love to be a fly on tbt wall when these meetings happen and they make decisions!
Since I don’t think I’ve shared it previously, here’s the podcast referenced: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chatting-with-tom-bricker-from-disney-tourist-blog/id689854999?i=1000608342370
Just be warned that you’ll be subjected to the sound of my voice, which is arguably worse than my rambling written thoughts!
I was so excited for the dining plan to return but am so, so disappointed that they have cut a snack credit per night! I don’t see many people talking about this and I don’t know if that’s because they haven’t noticed or don’t care. We care a lot! It always felt awesome like you were splurging having all those extra snack credits to try and find the most expensive ones or use tons at the festivals! Maybe you could remind everyone to email Disney to bring back the 2 snacks like you did with the Dream lights! Lol, I am still on the edge of my seat waiting to see if they will listen to our plea to being those back!
I’m in ‘wait and see’ mode on the snack credits, because I think it was probably a calculated cut.
I have theories–some of which are touched upon here–that will either be confirmed or refuted once we know prices. If they shoot up considerably–especially for the QSDDP–then I’ll be right there with you. However, my suspicion is that’s not what’s going to happen. We’ll find out on May 31!
I appreciate all the info you provide. My adult daughter and I are planning our 7th trip for 2025 (last one was January 2022).–when we still had to wear masks indoors!. We are excited about the changes about to take place. Is there any way we can get messages to the people who make the decisions that the ONE THING WE REALLY MISS IS MERCHANDISE DELIVERY FROM THE PARKS TO OUR RESORT!!! When we were there in Jan 22, we spent over $4,000 in souvenirs…we had to rent lockers, put our “stuff” in, get from lockers at end of day – take back to resort and ship by UPS. We would have spent way more if we could have had things sent straight to our resort!!!! Disney is really missing out on sales of merch!!!!
“Disney is really missing out on sales of merch!!!!”
If this is true, and I think it probably is (or will be once consumer spending further slows), we will see merchandise delivery restored at some point. Although staffing is much improved, it’s still not 100%. Some things–like this–probably still need more time.
Well it’s about time!!!!! Now all I have to do is wait to make our reservations for next year.
After not having the option of the dining plan for our last three visits, more details would be needed to help us decide if it’s worth it or not. Obviously for a lot of people this will be a welcome return. I’m personally more excited for the pre arrival genie plus options. Trying Disneyland for first time this year but will be at World next year when hopefully a lot of these “new” things are available.
“…more details would be needed to help us decide if it’s worth it or not.”
If you’re looking for meticulous overanalysis of the DDP, you’ve come to the right place! We’ll have that starting May 31, when more details are revealed. (Even then, it’ll be at least somewhat premature, as DDP prices will be set then, but menu price increases will probably happen in October and/or February 2024.)